June 01, 2011

REVIEW: FATEFUL BY CLAUDIA GRAY

The story revolves around a servant girl named Tess in 1912, who wants to escape from the house where she works, and most particularly the horrible family she has to work for. But that's not her biggest problem. While on a voyage to America, where she plans to escape and start a new life, she meets Alec, who's ruggedly handsome, fabulously wealthy, intelligent and yet so clearly troubled that she'd rather not fall for him, but she does. That also is not her biggest problem. Alec, it turns out, is a werewolf ... one cursed to change every night, unless he surrenders his independence and joins the Brotherhood, a pack of violently misogynistic werewolves who have been tracking him for months. You'd think that would be their biggest problem, wouldn't you?

But no. Their biggest problem -- though they don't know it yet -- is that they're aboard the RMS Titanic.

Claudia Gray has to be one of my favorite authors, period. She just has this way of writing that makes you never want to put a book down. Of course, most of you have read the Evernight series (and if you haven't, you should go do so right now!), and so you know how amazing Claudia's novels are. But this one, Fateful, has made it's way to the top of my list.

I think one of the best aspects of Fateful is that you already know one thing that's going to happen - I mean, they're on the Titanic - we all know how that ends up! Knowing that at any moment, they're going to hit the iceberg, knowing that the ship is going to sink, makes the story incredibly exciting before you even turn the first page. And I'd just like to add that even though the story takes place on the Titanic, the story is actually loosely based on the events of that day. Claudia takes great care to respect the memory of those who died.

Now, on to the story. Immediately, I fell in love with our main character, Tess. She's sweet, generous, and kick-ass! She knows her place in life (as a servant), but at the same time, she's never afraid to step past her boundaries when she has to. At one point in the story, she even gets all dressed up and hangs out on the First Class deck of the ship - if that's not gutsy, I don't know what it is.

I also fell in love with our paranormal hero in the story - Alec (although I do feel that this name is being over-used). In such a short novel, we learn that Alec is a werewolf (not by choice) and is refusing to become evil/greedy like all the other werewolves he knows. He'd actually rather die than join their cause, and that just makes us swoon even more. He's handsome, charming, and falls for the servant girl - how could you NOT love him!

I will say no more - but I will tell you that this book is a must-read! The supsense, the action, the drama, the Titanic!!! Honestly...I wish it had been longer, lol.

I can't wait to read this. I love her writing but I'm so mehhh about vampires, so I'm definitely excited for something else from her. (Not that I don't like the Evernight series, but you know what I mean. :p)